Questions about teaching reading

[MaeFlowers]

I have started trying to teach dd how to read. (She's four.) I didn't teach Ds to read as he learned in a mother's day out preschool. I'm all new to this.

 

So, I've started with phonics lessons. The first letters are a, c and s. Dd can remember the sounds for c and a but not s. She has been going over the sound of s daily for three weeks and still does not remember it.

 

When given a word like at, she will sound it out and then tell me that it says cat. Every.single.time. She doesn't remember the words she has read even if it was 30 seconds before. Or five seconds before. Each time it is like she has never seen the word before.

 

I don't know what is 'normal'. I do remember Ds reading a word once and never forgetting it but dd does not do this. I don't know if she is just not ready. The odd part to me is that she is the verbal one of the my two DC. She started talking very early and has a great vocabulary but she does tend to mispronounce tons of words. Ds was my late talker. He started talking very late (3), no mispronounciations, but was reading at 4.

 

Please don't get onto me for trying to rush her. I'm fine with waiting. She wants to learn to read and wants to do her book everyday. Something just isn't clicking.

[Arcadia]

The Leapfrog DVD and the Reader Rabbit DVD taught my youngest phonics. He didn't want people to teach and he loves dancing to the DVDs. He is my chatterbox. My oldest is an early talker, but extremely quiet and self taught. We borrowed from the library.

 

https://www.amazon.com/LeapFrog-Letter-Factory-Ginny-Westcott/dp/B0000INU6S

 

https://www.amazon.com/Reader-Rabbit-Great-Alphabet-Race/dp/B0006N2E1E

 

My DS10 did not have the patience to pronounce properly. He just wanted to talk. When his public school teacher tested him at five, she had to make him slow down to see if he really has pronunciation issues. Now when he talks too fast, his pronunciation suffers slightly.

[fralala]

Well, first off, if anyone is abnormal, it is your DS, in a good way, of course!

 

Did you start out just making sure she is listening for all the sounds in words and hearing them? (It can be hard; I know I don't enunciate my words well and my words run helter-skelter into one another.) I start off by having a child raise her hand or jump or toss a ball or whatever every time I say a word that begins with the target sound. This isn't so challenging, but when you ask them to identify words that end with a target sound (or have it in the middle) it grows pretty difficult. Can your daughter do these things?

 

Blending is really challenging and I think it's completely normal that your 4 year old is having trouble with the concept-- no need for concern.

[Kiara.I]

It does sound like she's not really ready.

 

Since she wants to learn, can you skip around and teach all the other letter sounds too, while waiting for S to resolve itself, and for actual blending to happen? Would she be satisfied with that?

 

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[Monica_in_Switzerland]

A few things that stand out to me:

 

- When teaching letter sounds, it can be helpful to choose letters that look very, very different for the 10-15 letters.  So, I would say c, s, and a would not be ideal first letters.  Something more like m, t, and a maybe.  Next, I would step back form teaching reading and switch to teaching hearing for a while.  :-)  Really practice pre-reading skills.  

 

My two oldest both were ready for three letter words at age 3.5.  I was freaked out when my fourth was totally incapable of this, even though I know it's "normal".  So we took a big step back and switched to playing word games.  While out for a walk, I would sound out /k/ /a/ /t/ and have her "glue" the word together and say it.  Once she got the hang of the game, she would also unglue words and try to have me guess them.  This is a much harder skill, but a really great pre-reading skill.  Add in rhyming games too.  

 

If you want more direction with pre-reading, there is a nice workbook by Critical Thinking Co called Fun Time Phonics.  I got this for third kiddo to work through this year, and then bam, last week she went from not being able to blend to being able to blend three letter words.  So I guess I'll just put the book in the basement until baby is old enough!  It really brought home to me the fact that blending is a developmental skill that no amount of "teaching" can teach.  We have been gently sounding things out with no success for probably a year.  No pressure or stress, just occasional attempts at sounding out.  And it couldn't be done.  Then she just woke up last week and could blend.  Amazing!  

 

So, give it time.  :-)

[MaeFlowers]

I think all of you are right. I think it is what she is hearing. I've noticed it is in the beginning sounds. For example, she calls Bugs Bunny, Fugs Funny. Vanilla becomes bunilla. "That's not fair!" becomes "That's not dare!". When she reads cat, sat and at, she recognizes that they all end in the at sound, but interchanges the beginning sounds.

 

She's so stubborn and loves certain letters and has no interest in others. I guess we need to go back to learning letter sounds and pre-reading. It's just so frustrating that she knew her letter sounds before she was two and keeps forgetting them.

[HomeAgain]

I'd also say she's not ready.  But I'm also a firm believer in the moveable alphabet, a la Montessori.  It gives a child a chance to play around with sounds that have been introduced without needing to have a phonics lesson go with it.  We used to leave ours out on the table with a tray that had a line drawn down the middle.  My kid could wander over, put sounds together, play with individual sounds, etc. and work things out on his own time.  We gave him the freedom to play with tactile letters for about two years before I introduced phonics instruction, and continued leaving them out until he no longer used them at all.

[cabritadorada]

I have a daughter with some speech difficulties and I can tell you that what finally clicked for her was really working on verbal word and sound games until she was finally able to "hear" initial sounds of words. 

 

Pre-reading games that help: 

 

Rhyming games - (hop if I say 2 words that rhyme, stay still if they don't rhyme) matching pictures that rhyme, read a book with many mispronounced words (call the mouse a "grouse" and have her correct you, etc), have her come up with rhyming words for words you say (made up or real). 

 

Clapping syllables

 

Initial sounds of words games (with objects and pictures only to start):

 

You put a bunch of items in a box and have her match the ones that start with an /m/ sound and the ones that don't belong (mitten, magnet, monkey, etc). For /l/ it's a leaf, locket, lizard..., /c/ is cup, cat, cupcake, cow...work on two letter sounds at a time because contrast helps. Do lots of review. 

 

You also want to start with sounds that are easy for her to make and are different from each other--if she's doing /f/ /d/ confusion avoid those for a while!

 

When she can reliably hear and match a few initial sounds of words you can introduce the corresponding letter and it will really stick for her. She'll understand that it's the M that's making the /m/ sound in monkey. Right now she doesn't have the initial sounds of words clear in her head so the letter sounds are kind of meaningless facts--that will change!

 

When she's able to go "m-m-monkey!" and pair it with "m-m-mop!" she's really ready to pair letters with their sounds. You can play games where she's matching objects or pictures to the proper letter, or writing the correct letter every time you show her a picture of something that starts with that letter.

 

When she's got some letter sounds and the concept of initial sounds of words stable in her brain she'll be ready for more traditional phonics instruction. :)

 

This may have some added benefit for her pronunciation skills too...

 

 

 

[blondchen]

I'd also say she's not ready.  But I'm also a firm believer in the moveable alphabet, a la Montessori.  It gives a child a chance to play around with sounds that have been introduced without needing to have a phonics lesson go with it.  

This.

 

I also agree with other pp's that she needs to go back to just practicing letter sounds. Until she learns all of them well, trying to put words together is going to be difficult and frustrating. I have used OPGTR for two kids and am now using it with my 4yo. It teaches all the short vowel sounds first, then one sound for each consonant, then CVC words, followed by consonant blends and long vowels, rules, etc. Playing around with lowercase magnetic fridge letters while DD was learning the sounds was really helpful, and we still do it just for fun. Our letter set is lowercase, with red vowels and blue consonants. It's great.

[Kiara.I]

I think all of you are right. I think it is what she is hearing. I've noticed it is in the beginning sounds. For example, she calls Bugs Bunny, Fugs Funny. Vanilla becomes bunilla. "That's not fair!" becomes "That's not dare!". When she reads cat, sat and at, she recognizes that they all end in the at sound, but interchanges the beginning sounds.

 

She's so stubborn and loves certain letters and has no interest in others. I guess we need to go back to learning letter sounds and pre-reading. It's just so frustrating that she knew her letter sounds before she was two and keeps forgetting them.

Can you have her hearing assessed, a full audiology panel? It's worth checking if there's a hearing issue with the sounds.

 

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[Lifelong Learner]

There are activities you can do to help her initially.  When I taught first grade, I shared these with my parents.  

 

*The most important is to label everything in your house.  For example, on every door have a label with the word "door".  She knows what it is called and will associate the written word with the sound of the word.  It's not possible to go overboard.  If she says it and knows the name for it, she can see the word for it.  Once she starts reading, leave these up.  They serve as reminders.

 

*A second activity is a game called Making Words.  It's a hands-on activity.  It's used in a lot of classrooms because it is so effective and most kids love to play it.  You will need a stack of about 100 square cards, not big, between 2X2 and 4X4.  They need to be large enough for your child to easily read but small enough for your child to manipulate easily.  You will need to write one letter on each card.  Generally, you will have about 4 of each letter.  It's also helpful to make the cards that have vowels look a little different.  I've frequently seen cards with vowels all in red.  Keep this set because you can use this same set every time you play and you can play this game to teach different skills all the way through 3rd grade.

 

Now you're ready to play the game.  Until she is ready, you can do a lot of the manipulating.  Begin by teaching the word families.  For example, at.  Pull out an a and a t.  Have other letters sitting around (like the d, c, and s).  Say and point, "This says at.  I wonder which of these letters I can add to the beginning of this word to make it say sat?"  The first few times you'll probably have to do it yourself to show her.  After adding the s, say "What if I took the S away again (then pull it back)?  What letter can I add to make this say cat?

 

*Don't overdo it, but when you're outside point to street signs.  For example, point to a stop sign.  Ask what it says then ask to give the first letter.  As she recognizes more letters, ask to spell more.

 

*Do the same for other environmental print.  It's important our children understand that reading is all around us.  Look at cereal boxes, mail, newspapers.  Whatever you have that has the printed word.

 

*Sometimes our children suddenly backtrack because they become fearful.  It might be someone else is doing very well, maybe they didn't do well once and are now fearful it will happen again.  To counteract this, set them up for success!  For example, when you read to her, have her help you with the reading.  Choose one word or phrase that happens frequently.  Go through the book looking for this word/phrase.  Help her find it each time.  By the end, she will probably be finding each instance on her own.  Give her massive amounts of praise.  Then actually read the book.  Point as you go.  Have her chime in on her parts.  Again, massive amounts of praise.

 

*Sometimes, backtracking is because the child is actually getting some type of reward from doing it incorrectly.  Looking at your examples,  Bugs Bunny becomes Fugs Funny actually would indicate to me that she recognizes the two words start with the same sound.  This would mean she's hearing them fine.  It's possible she might have difficulty reproducing them.  That's completely different.  More on that in just a minute.  Notice what happens when she switches sounds.  What are the reactions of others?  If people are laughing or otherwise giving her attention, she's getting a response she would want to repeat.  The easiest way to stop this problem is to end all reactions to her incorrect responses.  Get everybody on your side so it doesn't happen elsewhere.

 

*Another common issue is the child has progressed easily to a certain point.  After that point, reading becomes more difficult.  Some children don't want to work at it.  I've had some children who fake mistakes in an attempt to convince me they can't read.  This is fairly easy to diagnose.  First of all, you know your child.  Does this sound like something she would do?  If so, watch her mistakes carefully.  Children don't know the order of reading skills and so will make very inconsistent mistakes.  If you determine that this is the problem, simply let your daughter know exactly what will be accomplished during your time together.  Even a 4 year old can do this.  Let her know, in a kind yet firm way, you will complete this.  It can take 5 minutes or an hour.  Then STICK TO IT.  Before doing this, make sure this is the issue.  When she she has a problem, just wait it out.  Don't say anything.  After the lesson, use lots of praise and talk about how hard she worked, not how smart she is.

 

*If none of these are the issue, it is time to speak with the Dr.  Start with your pediatrician.  Your regular doctor knows your child and will have noticed any significant changes.  If there is nothing there, ask this Dr. for recommendations.

[MaeFlowers]

I want to say thank you to everyone for all the ideas and help. I will start playing some of these games with her and start really trying to pay attention to what is going on.

 

There are activities you can do to help her initially. When I taught first grade, I shared these with my parents.

 

*The most important is to label everything in your house. For example, on every door have a label with the word "door". She knows what it is called and will associate the written word with the sound of the word. It's not possible to go overboard. If she says it and knows the name for it, she can see the word for it. Once she starts reading, leave these up. They serve as reminders.

 

*A second activity is a game called Making Words. It's a hands-on activity. It's used in a lot of classrooms because it is so effective and most kids love to play it. You will need a stack of about 100 square cards, not big, between 2X2 and 4X4. They need to be large enough for your child to easily read but small enough for your child to manipulate easily. You will need to write one letter on each card. Generally, you will have about 4 of each letter. It's also helpful to make the cards that have vowels look a little different. I've frequently seen cards with vowels all in red. Keep this set because you can use this same set every time you play and you can play this game to teach different skills all the way through 3rd grade.

 

Now you're ready to play the game. Until she is ready, you can do a lot of the manipulating. Begin by teaching the word families. For example, at. Pull out an a and a t. Have other letters sitting around (like the d, c, and s). Say and point, "This says at. I wonder which of these letters I can add to the beginning of this word to make it say sat?" The first few times you'll probably have to do it yourself to show her. After adding the s, say "What if I took the S away again (then pull it back)? What letter can I add to make this say cat?

 

*Don't overdo it, but when you're outside point to street signs. For example, point to a stop sign. Ask what it says then ask to give the first letter. As she recognizes more letters, ask to spell more.

 

*Do the same for other environmental print. It's important our children understand that reading is all around us. Look at cereal boxes, mail, newspapers. Whatever you have that has the printed word.

 

*Sometimes our children suddenly backtrack because they become fearful. It might be someone else is doing very well, maybe they didn't do well once and are now fearful it will happen again. To counteract this, set them up for success! For example, when you read to her, have her help you with the reading. Choose one word or phrase that happens frequently. Go through the book looking for this word/phrase. Help her find it each time. By the end, she will probably be finding each instance on her own. Give her massive amounts of praise. Then actually read the book. Point as you go. Have her chime in on her parts. Again, massive amounts of praise.

 

*Sometimes, backtracking is because the child is actually getting some type of reward from doing it incorrectly. Looking at your examples, Bugs Bunny becomes Fugs Funny actually would indicate to me that she recognizes the two words start with the same sound. This would mean she's hearing them fine. It's possible she might have difficulty reproducing them. That's completely different. More on that in just a minute. Notice what happens when she switches sounds. What are the reactions of others? If people are laughing or otherwise giving her attention, she's getting a response she would want to repeat. The easiest way to stop this problem is to end all reactions to her incorrect responses. Get everybody on your side so it doesn't happen elsewhere.

 

*Another common issue is the child has progressed easily to a certain point. After that point, reading becomes more difficult. Some children don't want to work at it. I've had some children who fake mistakes in an attempt to convince me they can't read. This is fairly easy to diagnose. First of all, you know your child. Does this sound like something she would do? If so, watch her mistakes carefully. Children don't know the order of reading skills and so will make very inconsistent mistakes. If you determine that this is the problem, simply let your daughter know exactly what will be accomplished during your time together. Even a 4 year old can do this. Let her know, in a kind yet firm way, you will complete this. It can take 5 minutes or an hour. Then STICK TO IT. Before doing this, make sure this is the issue. When she she has a problem, just wait it out. Don't say anything. After the lesson, use lots of praise and talk about how hard she worked, not how smart she is.

 

*If none of these are the issue, it is time to speak with the Dr. Start with your pediatrician. Your regular doctor knows your child and will have noticed any significant changes. If there is nothing there, ask this Dr. for recommendations.

I wanted to respond to your comments specifically about changing sounds for attention. I think this may actually be part of it. Dh thinks this is completely the case because she is a complete ham. And it's hard to decipher whether she can't or won't. She has no problem lying or faking it to get her way. She wants to do everything in her order...like reading a book back to front. Magically, tonight, she knew all of her phonics sounds when playing a game with dh. I think she might be playing me.

 

On the other hand, I can tell that it might be harder for her to say the bu, or buh, sound. I asked her to say vanilla right today but it didn't sound quite right. More of a b and a v mix, if that's possible.

 

Either or, backing up and playing games might be a good idea. Maybe she will mature a bit?

[Ottakee]

Check out www.iseesam.com or www.3rsplus.com  The I See Sam readers are great for gentle, easy teaching of learning to read.  They start out with 5 letters/sounds and blend them into 3 words and start from there.  They chose letters/sounds that are very different from each other.....keeping p and q, and b and d far apart in the instruction.

[fralala]

So, she might be playing with you, but learning to say the sounds properly will help her berry much!
 

I like starting a reading lesson with speech, not pointing to letters on a page. This site has some helpful tips about exercises with b and v, since you mentioned those:

 

https://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/minimal-pairs-b-v.htm

 

So we always start reading lessons with a mirror and practice saying the sound, watching ourselves, and then listening for it. Then comes tracing it with finger or trying to write it. Perhaps you've already done all these things, but since it sounds like your son had a knack for saying the sounds and hearing them, you may have been able to skip all these steps. Oddly, I don't think your experience is uncommon that having a big vocabulary and speaking early (and general intelligence!) aren't necessarily correlated with decoding skills. Then again, like you said, maybe she is decoding and has just figured out a cool trick to get more time with you!

[Penelope]

It is perfectly normal to not be able to blend yet at four years old.

 

Reading is not really a step-wise progression where blending at four means reading chapter books at five, either.

 

I model blending and do not keep asking them to do it if they clearly can't yet. Finding fun ways to work on letter sounds also counts as "learning to read" and can be the focus for a while until they are ready to blend.